Giftedness in Education: Definitions, Theories, and Assessment

Introduction: The Study of Giftedness

The issue of giftedness — and the problematics of identifying and educating the gifted child — has raised concern and even contention in academic circles. The question of giftedness is also strongly related to the ongoing debate and research about human intelligence. Some critics note that in contemporary research, "giftedness and gifted education have somehow managed to escape comparable critical analysis" (Margolin, 1994, p. xiii). One reason given for this lack of focus is the dominance of studies on deviance and social problems in education, which has relegated giftedness to the periphery of modern educational and sociological discourse. This has resulted in a situation where "gifted education has been studied mostly by insiders with a stake in seeing gifted education continue: gifted child educators themselves" (Margolin, 1994, p. xiii).

This in turn raises questions about bias and objectivity in research in this area. While there is a large amount of debate and disagreement about the definition, meaning, assessment, and methods related to giftedness, there is also a degree of consensus on various aspects. For instance, "Educators in the field essentially agree on the importance of parents and family in the positive education and social development of gifted children" (Colangelo and Dettmann, 1983). There are many other areas in which the extensive research tends to converge rather than diverge. This paper presents an overview of the most relevant and current issues and topics being debated in this field.

The central purpose of this project is to explore the phenomenon of giftedness in terms of contemporary research and theory. A comprehensive overview of the literature is provided, with a focus on contemporary aspects of research and discourse. There are a wide range of theoretical concerns and often divergent views about giftedness, and this study discusses and presents the most important views on the subject. The project is also concerned with the explication of the problematics of identification and assessment that form such an important part of the study of the gifted child.

Defining Giftedness

There is a certain amount of contention about the definition of giftedness in the literature. A common perception of the term is as follows: "Giftedness is that precious endowment of potentially outstanding abilities which allows a person to interact with the environment with remarkably high levels of achievement and creativity" (Giftedness and the Gifted: What's it All About?). This rather effusive definition is itself an indicator of the difficulty of defining giftedness. A more reasoned and comprehensive view was provided by former U.S. Commissioner of Education Sidney P. Marland, Jr., who stated in his August 1971 report to Congress:

Gifted and talented children are those identified by professionally qualified persons who, by virtue of outstanding abilities, are capable of high performance. These are children who require differentiated educational programs and/or services beyond those normally provided by the regular school program in order to realize their contribution to self and society. (Marland, 1972)

The above definition expands the understanding of giftedness in two important ways: it emphasizes the importance of qualified professional identification, and it recognizes that gifted children have distinct educational requirements. The same report continued to define giftedness in terms of ability across the following categories: specific academic aptitude; creative or productive thinking; leadership ability; visual or performing arts; and psychomotor ability.

Much of the contention in the literature concerns the assertion that "giftedness" is a construct of educationists and other authorities rather than a discovered quality in itself. This view brings to bear various sociological and educational biases that may exist in the definition of the gifted child. As Borland (1997) argues, "giftedness, especially in children and adolescents in the schools, is something we as a field have constructed or invented through our writing and talking, not something that we have discovered" (p. 7). He elaborates:

To state that a construct is socially constructed is to state that it gains its meaning, even its existence, from people's interactions, especially their discourse. Concepts and constructs that are socially constructed thus acquire their properties and their influence through the give and take of social interaction, not through the slow accretion of empirical facts about a preexisting entity, at least not exclusively. (Borland, 1997, p. 7)

This perspective is useful in contemporary theory because it explores the assumption that giftedness is a construct that has changed over time — that its meaning has been constructed differently across different periods, cultures, and social environments. Borland notes that "the construct of giftedness has undergone significant changes in recent times" (1997, p. 13). He also refers to modern theorists of intelligence such as Howard Gardner and his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which contradicts the hierarchical view and the privileging of certain intelligences over others.

Another view that sheds light on the definition of giftedness is offered by Porter (2005). In line with these comments, Porter explains that the hierarchical view of giftedness is no longer tenable: "In the past, there was a hierarchical view of giftedness and talent which upheld that giftedness referred to academic skills while talent referred to nonacademic abilities — for example, in the fine arts. But this hierarchy cannot stand up to scrutiny" (p. 4). This extends the concept of giftedness beyond purely academic achievement. "Artistic expression is as central to the artist's personhood as academic achievement is to the intellectual. It is hoped that both will be a means for self-fulfillment, so one talent simply cannot be of less value than the other" (Porter, 2005, p. 4). From this perspective, giftedness is defined as "exceptional innate ability" and the potential to excel (Porter, 2005, p. 4).